NCAA Football
2025-09-20 - Purdue Boilermakers at Notre Dame Fighting Irish
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : College Football Week 4
Saturday 20th September 2025 - Scheduled 3:30pm
8:30pm (British Time)
Preview
Ryan Walters looked to be coming into a good situation with the Purdue Boilermakers (2-1), but the 1-11 record in 2024 was never going to be good enough for him to remain as Head Coach.
Unsurprisingly most would have felt the Boilermakers could only go up under Barry Odom, who had been doing a fine job as Head Coach of the UNLV Rebels. He has already helped double the wins from 2024, while the Boilermakers offered some resistance before losing to the USC Trojans at home in the Big Ten last week.
That makes it ten straight Conference defeats for the Boilermakers, but they are heading out to South Bend for this non-Conference game in Week 4.
Motivation will be high against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (0-2) but still ranked #24 (!) with just 110 miles separating the campuses, while Purdue fans will remember the shellacking handed out by Notre Dame in 2024.
That was on the way to National Championship Game, but this Fighting Irish team have already lost two close games to the Miami Hurricanes and Texas A&M Aggies and even making the post-season could be beyond them four weeks into the new season.
Head Coach Marcus Freeman has overseen a solid few seasons with the Fighting Irish, but he will be under pressure if the team are to slip to a third straight defeat in 2025.
There is room for improvement for the Fighting Irish ahead of this game- they have struggled for Offensive consistency and some of that is down to the Offensive Line issues. Notre Dame have not been able to run the ball with real authority, while the Fighting Irish Offensive Line have not been nearly as effective in pass protection as young Quarter Back CJ Carr would have liked.
It has put some pressure on Carr by having to be forced to throw from third and long spots and that has contributed to the Quarter Back opening this season with 3 Touchdown passes along with 2 Interceptions.
He should be able to have success against this Purdue team, although credit has to be given to Barry Odom who has made his reputation as a Defensive Coach and who has already shown he can toughen up this team. Last season the Boilermakers could not make stops, but the Defensive Line has made an encouraging start to the season and could keep the underdog competitive.
Winning at the Line of Scrimmage is so important in any American Football game and Purdue may struggle on the Offensive side of the ball when it comes to establishing the run. They may have some success slowing down the Fighting Irish on the other side, but the Boilermakers are not expected to have much success on the ground and that is going to put the pressure on the Quarter Back.
However, Ryan Browne may have some spaces to exploit considering the early issues Notre Dame have had in the Secondary, although the 4 Interceptions thrown is a problem. The Fighting Irish will also expect a step down compared with the Offensive power of the Hurricanes and Aggies, but there is an opportunity for Browne and the Boilermakers to have some gaps to exploit.
Turnovers are going to be important, but the spread is a big one and Barry Odom's record as an underdog is to be respected.
Notre Dame just need to win and the Purdue Head Coach was 6-3 against the spread as the road underdog with the Rebels.
The 59 point home loss to the Fighting Irish last season gives the road underdog a bit more motivation and the points on offer look appealing enough here.
Prediction
Take the Purdue Boilermakers + 25 Points as a road underdog in this game.
The Pick :
Notre Dame 38-17 Purdue Boilermakers
